Former Secret Service Assigned to Silk Road Investigation Pleads Guilty

Share

Former Secret Service Assigned to Silk Road Investigation Pleads Guilty

By
Law Offices of Paul D. Petruzzi PA
|September 01, 2015

The Government’s ongoing investigation into the defunct Silk Road
website took another interesting turn with the guilty plea of one of the
former Secret Service Agents who took part in the investigation. Certainly,
money laundering and obstruction of justice are serious federal crimes.
These crimes become even more serious when committed by a Secret Service
special agent during his employment. This is exactly what happened when
a former U.S. Secret Service special agent pleaded guilty yesterday to
money laundering and obstruction of justice in connection with his theft
of digital currency during the federal investigation of Silk Road. Between
2012 and 2014, former special agent Bridges was assigned to the Baltimore
Silk Road Task Force, investigating illegal activity on Silk Road. Bridges’
responsibilities included, among other things, conducting forensic computer
investigations in an effort to locate, identify and prosecute the Government’s
targets and seize their assets. Some of the people he investigated included
Ross Ulbricht, aka Dread Pirate Roberts, who ran Silk Road and is now
serving a life sentence, and our client, Cornelis Slomp, aka Supertrips,
the largest vendor on Silk Road, who received a greatly reduced sentence
of 10 years with the ability to request a transfer to his home in the
Netherlands to serve his sentence. As for former special Agent Bridges,
here is the press release from the Department of Justice:

A former U.S. Secret Service special agent pleaded guilty today to money
laundering and obstruction of justice in connection with his theft of
digital currency during the federal investigation of Silk Road, an online
marketplace used to facilitate the purchase and sale of illegal drugs
and other contraband.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s
Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag of the Northern District
of California, Chief Richard Weber of the IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI),
Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson of the FBI’s San Francisco
Division, Special Agent in Charge Michael P. Tompkins of the Justice Department’s
Office of the Inspector General’s Washington, D.C. Field Office,
and Special Agent in Charge Lori Hazenstab of the Department of Homeland
Security’s Office of the Inspector General in Washington D.C. made
the announcement.

Shaun W. Bridges, 32, of Laurel, Maryland, had been a special agent with
the U.S. Secret Service for approximately six years in the Baltimore Field
Office and was assigned to the Electronic Crimes Task Force. He pleaded
guilty before the U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg of the Northern
District of California and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 7, 2015.

“There is a bright line between enforcing the law and breaking it,”
said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “Law enforcement officers
who cross that line not only harm their immediate victims but also betray
the public trust. This case shows we will act quickly to hold wrongdoers
accountable, no matter who they are.”

“Mr. Bridges has now admitted that he brazenly stole $820,000 worth
of digital currency while working as a U.S. Secret Service special agent,
a move that completely violated the public’s trust,” said
U.S. Attorney Haag. “We depend on those in federal law enforcement
having the highest integrity and unshakeable honor, and Mr. Bridges has
demonstrated that he utterly lacks those qualities. We appreciate the
hard work of our federal partners that went into bringing Mr. Bridges
to justice.”

“Through a series of complex transactions, the defendant stole bitcoins
worth hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Chief Weber. “This
case is an excellent example of the financial expertise of our special
agents. Through the analysis of both the block chain and data from the
Silk Road servers, we were able to trace the flow of funds, which eventually
led to the defendant.”

Between 2012 and 2014, Bridges was assigned to the Baltimore Silk Road
Task Force, a multi-agency group investigating illegal activity on Silk
Road. Bridges’ responsibilities included, among other things, conducting
forensic computer investigations in an effort to locate, identify and
prosecute targets, including Ross Ulbricht, aka Dread Pirate Roberts,
who ran Silk Road.

According to his plea agreement, Bridges admitted that in January 2013
he used an administrator account on the Silk Road website that belonged
to another individual to fraudulently obtain access to that website, reset
passwords of various accounts and to move bitcoin from those accounts
into a bitcoin “wallet” that Bridges controlled. Bridges admitted
that he moved and stole approximately 20,000 bitcoin, which at that time
was worth approximately $350,000.

Bridges admitted that he moved the stolen bitcoin into an account at Mt.
Gox, an online digital currency exchange based in Japan. According to
his admissions, he liquidated the bitcoin into $820,000 of U.S. currency
between March and May 2013, and had the funds transferred to personal
investment accounts in the United States.

Bridges’ plea agreement also established that he obstructed the Baltimore
federal grand jury’s investigations of Silk Road and Ulbricht in
a number of ways, including by impeding the ability of the investigation
to fully utilize a cooperator’s access to Silk Road. In addition,
Bridges admitted that he made multiple false and misleading statements
to investigators in connection with the San Francisco federal grand jury’s
investigation into his own illegal acts, and that he encouraged another
government employee to lie to investigators.

Bridges is one of two federal agents to plead guilty in connection with
illegal activity during the investigation of Silk Road. Carl M. Force,
46, of Baltimore, was a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration
and was also assigned to the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force. On July 1,
2015, Force pleaded guilty to a three-count information charging him with
money laundering related to his theft of over $700,000 in digital currency
while acting as an undercover agent on the Task Force. Force is scheduled
to be sentenced by Judge Seeborg on Oct. 19, 2015.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s San Francisco Division, the
IRS-CI’s San Francisco Division, the Justice Department’s
Office of the Inspector General and the Department of Homeland Security’s
Office of the Inspector General in Washington, D.C. The case is being
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn Haun and William Frentzen
of the Northern District of California and Trial Attorney Richard B. Evans
of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, with assistance
from Assistant U.S. Attorney Arvon Perteet.

The information on this website is for general information purposes only.
Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual
case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt
or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.